Work is set to begin "any day now" on a prototype Apple store in the heart of downtown Palo Alto, according to city planning officials.

The city issued a building permit on Dec. 12 for the modern two-story structure Apple wants to erect at 340 University Ave., about a block away from its existing downtown store.

An application to raze the old Liddicoats building that occupies the 9,250-square-foot lot is also nearly complete, according to Yvette Sheets-Saucedo, a LEED accredited professional with the Palo Alto Development Center. A Z Gallerie furniture store was the building's most recent occupant.

Plans filed with the city call for a glass roof and facade that will allow natural light to flood much of the 15,030-square-foot store. Stone and steel also factor heavily into the design. A basement and rear mezzanine will provide office space and storage, according to the plans.

"It's a very unique building," Palo Alto planning manager Steven Turner told The Daily News. "The retail space within the building is very visible to pedestrians who are walking past."

Documents filed earlier this year for the $3.15 million project describe the store as a "new prototype" and a "commons for (Apple's) community to gather." Architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, which has won numerous awards for its work on other Apple stores, is listed as the project applicant.

The Apple store at 451 University Ave. -- the company's ninth retail outlet and first in Northern California -- is expected to close once work wraps up on the new digs.

The famously secretive Cupertino-based company declined to discuss the project in detail Wednesday.

"Our Palo Alto store was one of our first retail stores when we opened it nearly a decade ago and it's been incredibly popular," company spokeswoman Amy Bessette said in a prepared statement. "We are planning a beautiful new store just a few steps away, building on everything we've learned from our customers in Palo Alto and around the world.